In certain circumstances, owners of leasehold flats have a legal right to buy the freehold of the building together with other leaseholders. This process is known as collective enfranchisement.

For collective enfranchisement to be available, the building must be a self-contained building – either a detached building or part of a building that is structurally and operationally independent from it. It must contain at least two flats, and at least two thirds of the flats must be owned by qualifying leaseholders. At present, at least 75 per cent of the building's floor space, excluding common areas, must be residential. However, the government plans to reduce this to 50 per cent.

The number of qualifying leaseholders participating in collective enfranchisement must be at least half of the flats in the building. If there are only two flats, both must participate.

To count as a qualifying leaseholder, a leaseholder must have a residential lease which is a long lease, meaning it was originally granted for more than 21 years, and must own no more than two flats in the building.

Owners of leasehold flats also have a right to take over the management of their building from the landlord, without buying the freehold. This is known as the right to manage. This is a much less expensive option than collective enfranchisement.